Author: Camilo

Private property. It sounds so good, so right, so true. It’s so dang important that it was written into that old document about our Rights (no, not that one; I mean this one, which is much better.)

But when we talk about rights, we usually perceive them to be only about a benefit to us; in the case of private property, we think about our stuff.

A true respect for property rights would also hold the converse to be true: that others have a right to their own property. The proper respect of the rights of others is a mark of maturity. You should never think you have any claim to the property of another person unless that person granted or sold you an interest in that property. You should never assume that such an interest exists without an explicit statement saying so.

Likewise, never give up any interest in any property without remuneration; even if that remuneration is merely implied gratitude when the property is shared gratis. The only exception to this is cheerful giving, when you just want to give something away.

Families screw this up big time with children, when they force the little ones to “share”. This was true of our family when you were young; a major mistake. Little ones should be taught early that their property is theirs to dispose of utterly; and that they should bear the consequences of their choices. If parents want some toys to be “community property” among their children and guest children, they should make it clear that they own the toys.

Read this article about the nuts and bolts about teaching children to understand private property from a very early age. I did not find it until very late; but it won’t be too late for you if you read it now.

So you want to be a pilot. That’s great. It is a superb profession. I’ll give you an anecdote. I start with the worst thing that happened to me in aviation: getting laid off from my airline job in 2003.

To pay the bills I sold health insurance. I got my license, started making cold calls, and drove all over California’s Central Valley to pitch health policies to my clients. Early in this game, I had a meeting in Kingsburg with a family. Before leaving our house, I called to verify our 4 p.m. appointment. Still on. They lived in a modest single family, single story home near the 99. I rang the doorbell. No answer. I rang that doorbell five times more. No answer. I called their number. Total disavowal of any meeting! This family was home, and lying to me about having agreed to a meeting. I could hear them! So I drove home.

I complained about this to my manager. I was very bitter about it. He just laughed. “Happens all the time,” he said. And it happened a few times more before I changed jobs.

The point: I had enjoyed living in a moral hot-house my whole career, namely, aviation. In the Navy, integrity was taught as the essential ingredient in becoming an officer and pilot. This was pounded into our skulls. Dishonesty would inevitably get your wingman, squadronmate and shipmate killed. Open, frank and honest discussion about everything on the job was the “go juice” that made aviation possible. No integrity, no flying.

I got used to this and forgot to appreciate it. It’s still true in the airline business. I find that at least in terms of the job, dishonest people are vanishingly rare.

As I age, it’s becoming more interesting to watch my sons’ trials, especially comparing their reactions to mine. Here’s one: a painful social situation that gives rise to a temptation to remonstrate with a former friend or acquaintance. In the short run, giving in to the temptation feels good. But in the long run, it’s terrible choice.

Angry words about past hurts are a waste of time for the hurt party; the better choice is the uncomfortable and lonely high road. This looks like:

Forgiveness, even if that is never asked for by, nor expressed to, the other party. Forgiving and forgetting past hurts is better; this is science.

You’re likely to see this person again in a social context (reunion, Christmas party, etc.) At a minimum, offer a friendly hello. He or she should walk away believing you want to maintain friendly terms. Silence = hostility in this situation. “Hi, great to see you,” is a good start. See here.

Never gossip. If you need to talk about the painful situation, talk only to family or to the most trusted friend.

This is all type 1 advice. I never received it but wish I had (I probably wouldn’t have listened.) Acting out on a grudge has never produced any kind of good result.

JetBlue has requested authorization to launch an ab initio pilot training program in the United States. I’ve written about ab initio training before (see here, here and here.) The main difference between this proposal and the European practice is that JetBlue will send their candidates out to fly at a smaller airline until they get the required hours (1,500.) That matches the minimum time requirement for pilots at U.S. carriers; most applicants exceed that number. The candidates in this program might gain a leg up on their competition by securing an job at the minimum level.

The company attempted to justify the request by citing a pilot shortage (see here.) If you don’t click through, here’s the summary: airlines have thousands of applicants for pilot jobs if the jobs pay well. If not, as in the case of regional airlines, pilot shortage. JetBlue starting pay for pilots is about $44,000/year. Starting pay at a typical regional airline (e.g., Mesa) is about $20,000/year.

So why? Under the plan, pilots could get hired onto the JetBlue seniority list at a younger age than otherwise. They would enjoy a permanent lifestyle benefit at the expense of their peers; and thus the creation of a cadre of grateful pilots. That difference would be an exploitable wedge between union members, potentially useful during contract negotiations. In fairness, unions also create wedges between members over time.

Usually advice is too general. The previous post, Pay Yourself Second, was a good example. It promoted the idea that a young person should save regularly but didn’t show how.

You could set up automatic distributions, from your paycheck, to a savings account in a bank ($100 per paycheck when starting out) to build up an emergency fund. What could be more accessible than money you could easily transfer to your checking account? Also: how much? Let me … If that’s too much just save $1,000.

After that, how do you save money? Here’s a specific answer: put money regularly into a Dividend Reinvestment Program (DRIP.) The key quote: “The compounding interest of DRIPs allows investors to purchase additional shares of stock at little or no cost …” (emphasis added.) That zero-to-low cost is a big deal in terms of compounding over time.

Not specific enough? Click here and sign up with Realty Income. This company pays dividends so incredibly regularly that it trademarked “The Monthly Dividend Company” as its slogan. Assuming all else is equal, a higher frequency of dividend payments is better. And, if you’re bored, here’s another article on Realty Income.

$100 a month. Increase this when you can afford it. Never decrease. Do this and be rich when you’re middle aged.

My oldest son is in college. He is studying engineering. His first semester was unremarkable; we were surprised how quickly he took to social life there, but not much because his university attracts young people exactly like him – on the serious side, but with some sense of humor. Not a party school. But that first semester was all about school.

His second semester, he decided to say “yes” to everything. He joined the school ensemble choir, began competing in a club sport, and joined an engineering fraternity. This has continued into his second year, with the addition of military training in place of the singing. He is also carrying 20+ credits. When he comes home, he buries my wife under a mountain of laundry, then spends most of his time sleeping with occasional breaks for a meal. We don’t bug him about this.

Obviously, we should be telling him to manage his time.

But advice given to college students, especially the fatherly variety, comes under 3 categories: advice I was never given, but wish it had been; advice I was given, but that I ignored; and advice that I received and applied. There are no entries under the last category.

So here’s some category 2 advice: Pay Yourself First. To a Christian, the advice reads badly. We’re not supposed to do anything for ourselves first … God has to come first, so the tithe is critical. OK: Pay Yourself Second (after God, but ahead of everybody else.) Rather than attempt to prove why this is important, I’ll just link this.

To that good advice, I’ll add this: never sell. Whatever you invest in, keep it in there until you can look at the compounding balance and conclude: “Wow, I can pay off my house/investment real estate/retainer for my defense lawyer!” Keep it in there until the balance gives you some real relief and financial peace. Warren Buffett said, “Lethargy, bordering on sloth, should remain the cornerstone of an investment style.” So just keep adding and don’t sell.

This is an interesting YouTube video about the top 10 jobs most likely to be outsourced to a robot or other technology. The part I found most interesting was #9, Drivers. The narrator states that “Those who make a living ferrying people and cargo around in vehicles could one day have their livelihood [sic] taken from them.” This will eventually apply to pilots in a limited way; from two person cockpits to one-person cockpits with a Skype-like video link to another pilot or dispatcher (or both) on the ground.

David was praying for salvation; he was praying for membership in God’s people. He certainly was leading the congregation to ask for this salvation because it’s a psalm (a point I’ve belabored.) David praises God because God answers the prayer (“has heard.”) The remainder of the psalm lists the benefits of God’s favor only His people enjoy.

One pastor I knew once taught about the “unpardonable sin” (blaspheming and lying about the Holy Spirit) that Jesus warned the Pharisees against. He (the pastor) criticized the tendency to generalize all sins as blasphemy against the Holy Spirit (the generalization states: if you claim to be a Christian, you will have power to fight off your sins, so any sin you commit makes Him a liar; you are blaspheming the Holy Spirit, which is unpardonable … see here for a good refutation.) Obviously, this is junk theology: perfectionism. But our pastor dismissed it quite elegantly: “If you ever worry about this sin, you don’t have to worry about this sin.” His meaning was that only someone with the power of the Holy Spirit could ever be sensitive to the words of Jesus on this point. I was grateful for this assurance, because early in my Christian walk, I was briefly susceptible to this worry. I outgrew it because I recognized the perfectionism, but it would have been fun to listen to this error get crushed by that line when I was in its grip.

Another story: I visited a friend’s church in Santa Clarita, California where they used a high church liturgy. This liturgy included a corporate confession and forgiveness of sins. The pastor ended the forgiveness of sins part by saying, “1st John 1:9 tells us that ‘If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.’ So based on this objective testimony, you are forgiven. It doesn’t matter if you ‘feel forgiven.’ Even if you’re depressed right now, you’re still forgiven!” This was another pithy and unexpected assurance.

I reminisce about these points of assurance because they came so subtly, unexpectedly and powerfully. I know the Holy Spirit was making me pay attention to these (and other) events and filling my heart up with them. I know God has forgiven me my sins; I don’t deserve it, but I’m overjoyed to have it. This is how David felt when he wrote verse 6.

Perhaps Rev. Keller was asking about whether we should expect our petitions for everyday things to always be answered in the affirmative: “God, please give me a good day at work;” “God, please help me fix this thing;” “God, please don’t let the 49ers lose to the Seahawks;” etc. He doesn’t always say “yes” to these petitions. I think that if He answers No to these kinds of petitions, we have to try to see how the “no’s” line up with His plan for us. That may only happen in retrospect.

Question 3. We have seen what David was petitioning for. What do we learn in the psalm about how we should petition God? (a) What attitudes or beliefs underlie his requests? (Think especially of what “uplifted hands” (v. 2) symbolize. Why is each attitude/belief important for petitioning? (b) The word for “anointed one”’ in Hebrew is “Messiah” and in Greek is “Christos.” How does David unwittingly point us to Christ here?

(a) When I think of uplifted hands, I think of children raising their hands to their parents. I don’t think that this means that children can’t have a conception of God outside their parents. I do think this means that parents represent God to their children as they grow – and what could be more appropriate, since God the Father reveals Himself to us as – a father. It’s also appropriate given the fact that human beings are a natural revelation of God. Since human beings are the only part of the created order to bear God’s image, one has only to look at a human to see something of God. For these reasons, when we think of David raising his hands to God, we should think about children, not teenagers, (parents of teenagers, you’re with me on this one right?) looking up with uplifted hands at Mommy or Daddy asking for something. Usually with iron-clad confidence. Maybe this is the reason Jesus said this. This represents a belief by the child in the parents’ ability (or power) to satisfy the request.

Similarly, I don’t think a small child would normally approach a stranger this way. A child’s wariness of a stranger is a contrast to the trusting familiarity he shows to his parents, which represents his belief in his parents’ goodness (or righteousness.)

As with any analogy, this one can be taken too far and falls apart at the point where parents aren’t as powerful or good as their young children think they are. It is here that the child has to grow, and start raising his hands toward God.

So David prayed to God in this psalm with a strong belief in God’s power and righteousness. These are important to the petitioner because it defies logic for him to pray for something that he doesn’t expect to happen – that would be a waste of time. Eventually the petitioner would stop praying. “What’s the use?” But there is more. We have been taught through further special revelation that God is not a gumball machine and our prayers are not quarters. God instructs us in prayer to be careful to pray for His will and not our own, and to be careful to sort out our motivations when we pray. But since God always hears the petitions of His people, and also instructs us to pray without ceasing, we can conclude that sometimes He simply says, “no.” There are times when parents say “no.” This is not unanswered prayer.

(b) I got nothing. This doesn’t mean I’m not going to try to dazzle you with brilliance baffle you with something other than brilliance. To do this, I have to deconstruct the question. Rev. Keller asks how David “unwittingly point[s] us to Christ” in verse 8b (“he [the Lord] is the saving refuge of his anointed”.) In this sentence, the Lord (not LORD, or YVWH, but Lord, Adonai, I believe) is the subject who is the “saving refuge” of someone else. That someone else is “his anointed.” If Rev. Keller is asking how “his anointed” points to Christ, it can’t, because Christ did not receive salvation but gave it. I think that since “his anointed” is the recipient of salvation in verse 8, David may have been referring to himself. The context seems to support this, as David recounts many of the benefits of being found in the Lord in verses 7-9.

Of course, since David is a Christ type, pointing at himself is pointing at a Christ type. Perhaps that’s how.

Another line of reasoning would look at the objects of God’s favor in verses 8-9: His people. Plural. There are two references to “people,” one to “heritage,” and the use of “their and “them” as pronouns for His people. In the midst of all this, we have “his anointed.” There was only one individual in Israel who could claim to be the “anointed.” That was David. However, David may have been, even unwittingly, identifying God’s people with Himself. This idea would seem to find its apotheosis in Paul, who calls the church Christ’s body.

I guess the only way to conclude that David was giving a messianic shout-out is to just say, “Look, he wrote ‘anointed one!’ That’s what makes it messianic! Because Psalms.”